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Jason Aldean Has 'Fingers & Toes Crossed' for Grammy Wins

James Minchin III

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Jason Aldean

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J ason Aldean has a lot to be excited about these days. He will be heading out to Los Angeles for Sunday's Grammy Awards, where he is a three-time nominee, and will also perform "Don't You Wanna Stay" with Kelly Clarkson. He recently kicked off the 2012 portion of his "My Kinda Party" tour, which has been selling out left and right, and on Tuesday, he celebrated the success of his eighth number one hit "Tattoos On This Town" with a party in Nashville. Before the celebration, Aldean sat down with reporters to talk about all the excitement.

 

"For whatever reason, we've been stringing them together," Aldean said of his luck on the charts as of late. The song has become his fourth straight chart-topper from the My Kinda Party disc. "This record has been unbelievable for the songs, and my career in general."

 

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Aldean said he felt that many could relate to the nostalgia of the lyrics - himself included. "It does remind me of where I'm from, and some of the stuff I did growing up. To me, it's nice to sing songs like that take you back to those days in high school where you are doing things that you should have got in trouble for, that luckily you didn't get caught," he said with a laugh.

 

The track was written by Wendell Mobley, Michael Dulaney, and Neil Thrasher. He says the writers and he seem to be in sync with each other on a musical level. "They have wrote a lot of songs specifically for us - especially the new record," he said, alluding to his upcoming disc. "There's certain guys that are just great writers, and when you're working on a new album, you want to go to those guys and see what they got. They just seem to be dialed in to what it is I like, and we're having a good run with them right now."

 

Aldean has had a sensational career run, beginning with 2005's "Hicktown." He is proud of the success he has had, and particularly proud of the band and crew that have been there every step of the way.

 

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"I think all of them are about as stunned as I am. They've been out there with me every night and are kind of witnessing everything as it's happening. I think those guys are out there with you are the only ones that get it." He says that his relatives appreciate his success, but don't see the behind-the-scenes events that go on daily. "Family, a lot of times, don't see the everyday stuff. They notice that you're getting bigger, and they're proud of you." He points out when they do attend a show, it's interesting to see their reaction. "It's cool to see the look on their face when they come out for the first time, and see how much things have changed from the club days to how it is now."

 

Aldean admits to being very excited to be not only an attendee at the Grammy Awards, but also as a nominee and performer. "I've got my fingers and toes crossed going out to the Grammys," he says. "For anyone in the music business, I don't know if it gets any bigger than that. To not only be performing on the show, but to be up for three awards is a pretty good feeling. I think every artist hopes to have that 'Grammy Award winner' tag in front of their name. Obviously, that's a huge honor. It's going to be a fun night."

 

It's always fun for Aldean to take to the stage, and he's shaking up his show just a little bit this year, with an all-new production that features a 360-degree configuration. Aldean says it's all a part of keeping things fresh. "We wanted to do something different this year. When we designed our stage and production for this year, that was something we had in mind. We wanted to be able to sell 360. For me, it's new, because I've never had fans that wrapped around us like that. It's a challenge to make sure that those sitting behind me are as involved in the show as everyone else. But, the way we've got the stage set up, there's ways of me getting back there to them, and interacting with them. It was something that I didn't know how it would go until after the first show, but after a couple, we're getting used to it. It's nice. I'll probably be in the best shape of my life after the tour. There's a lot of running around going on. But that's good, I need the exercise," he says.

 

Aldean's current single, "Fly Over States," has just been released and is currently No. 33 on the Billboard Country Songs chart.

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